THE WHEREABOUTS OF HELEN MC COURT

I well remember the night of Helen Mc Court's murder.

I was at that time a GP and I had a late call on that Tuesday night. I remember the weather was foul, wet and very windy and as I passed the shops opposite the pub at about 8 pm looked to see if any young people were out on such a night. There were a few but not many.

On the following Thursday the police were asking for help. I went to Billinge school, now the Eddleston Centre where an incident room had been set up.

At the time there was an opencast site at the top of my drive and the access was there with a turning radius to the road. The coal had been worked right up to the radius and the hole was guarded by a rail about 2 ft tall. Three feet behind it was the drop, about 20 ft into the hole which was being filled up at the time.

About 15 yards away was the top of the tipping place where it was easy to get down to the bottom of the hole.
It would have been simple park a car, lift the body over the 2 ft rail,move it 3 ft and throw it down the hole and go round and cover it up. At 7 am the following morning before daylight work restarted filling the hole in at 500 tons per hour, and a body would have been soon covered in hundreds of tons of spoil.

I went to the police and told them this but was dismissed in a peremptory way by them saying they would check the following week.
They did not seem at all anxious to check immediately in spite of what I told them.
I therefore washed my hands of it.
I was told a forensic policeman was convinced she was buried there and all the other people in the area at the time will back up this version.

I think the police felt it too expensive to stop the opencast job and re excavate the hole so put on a show of trying to find her elsewhere.

I feel sure I could pin point the site of the body to 10 yards but since then a large gas main has been laid over it and there is no chance now.
All this does not help the poor girl, nor her mother but I think these facts should be made public as I and others have attempted in the past before the advent of blogs.

As for Ian Simms, he may not have killed her but I believe he knows who did it and that he was involved.
I think he is frightened to say more,as his life could be in danger if he did.
He must feel safer in jail.